I caught this on CNN the other day and thought I would post it. While I consider it a privilege to live in the United States, I also understand that it is not always the land of promise or where dreams can come true, because I have seen too many times that it is where money, status, and bureaucracy can speak louder at times than humanity can.
Pedro the Dishwasher - a man who has spent 11 years washing dishes in Florida: he left his home in Latin America and came to make some money so that he could eventually return to his home village to buy some land and build a house for his mother and his sisters. He saved $59,000 and finally decided to return home. Not knowing that he had to declare that he was carrying more than $10,000, he was stopped at Ft. Lauderdale airport and all his savings were confiscated. That's not all. Not only does he face deportation if he doesn't leave on his own by the end of January but the IRS is on his back because he received nearly $10,000 in donations from generous people around the country; thus the IRS wants to take that money (the $10,000) as tax for all the money he made while working as a dishwasher. The link is for the CNN video on this piece of news. Incredible, but true.
CNN Video on Pedro the Dishwasher
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